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EUGENE SNOW 



Copyrighted 



Character Building 



OR 



What I Know About Breaking 

and Training Colts and 

<m Horses <m 



BY 



EUGENE SNOW, 

CLOVERLAND STOCK FARM, 

KNOXBORO, N. Y. 

Copyright, 1905, by Eugene Snow, 



LIBRARY of OONGRESS 
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What I Know About Breaking auid 
Training Colts and Horses 

When I say that I have spent thirty years 
of my life on a stock farm as a breeder and 
owner of race, road and carriage horses, it 
does not mean that the time has been wholly 
spent in supervising or directing some one else 
to do the work, but that I have at all times had 
a practical hold of the business, working out 
its problems and bringing them to a successful 
issue, with my own hands breaking, train- 
ing and otherwise educating and racing the 
products of the farm. I believe I am the only 
man living or dead who has raced horses, of 
his own breeding and development, for 
twenty-five consecutive years. Having no 
other means of a livelihood, it may strike the 
reader that this could not have been done 
without a certain amount of success. For the 



benefit of any who may conclude that I am in 
any sense of the term a ' ' has-been ' ' and too 
old to do anything but write memoirs, I will 
say that I am still on the meridian line of life 
and am neither going nor dying out of the 
business that has proven the source of very 
much pleasure and not a little profit. As evi- 
dence that I am abreast of the times, I offer 
"Happy Bill," thought by many to be the 
greatest two-year-old trotter that has yet ap- 
peared. He was exhibited at the Oneida 
County and New York State Fairs last fall, 
stepping a half in 1:06, a quarter in 31^ and 
an eighth in 15 seconds, officially timed in the 
presence of thousands of spectators. 

While the practical ideas I have formulated 
between the covers of this little book are the 
results of a long and varied experience with 
high-bred, and many times very nervous ani- 
mals, I do not say that they are wholly the 
product of my own brain. They are none the 
less valuable, however, and are intended more 



particularly for farmers, and others who may 
breed one or two animals each year and have 
not made the training of colts a study. They 
do not throw any light on the treatment of 
horses which have acquired vicious or ugly 
habits, but are a sure preventive of such 
habits, as my record of never having produced 
a vicious horse will show. 

By way of opening I will make three sug- 
gestions : 

i st. Break the colt when he is young, the 
winter he is coming two. 

2nd. Throw away the whip if you cannot 
use it with discretion. 

3rd. If you have an ungovernable temper 
yourself don't try. 



CHARACTER BUILDING 

The weanling should be in a large box 
stall or shed when he takes his first lesson. 
We find him usually in a semi-wild condition 
in absolute fear of the being who now appears 
before him as a would-be teacher, and in some 
instances ready to fight him. Such a colt was 
' ' Happy Bill ' ' when I closed the door be- 
tween him and the only friend he had known 
up to that time — his mother. He faced me 
with defiance and fear plainly written on his 
countenance. I doubt if I had men enough in 
my employ to, with safety for themselves and 
the colt, force the halter upon him ; but in 
less than three minutes I had it securely on 
his head and he had scarcely moved from his 
tracks. It was done by simply hanging a 
common rope halter on the end of a twelve- 
foot pole. On the side of the pole, very near 
to the top end, had been driven two twelve 
penny nails diagonally, one towards the top, 



the other towards the bottom of the pole so 
that the heads of the nails would come very 
nearly, if not quite together for the purpose 
of holding and spreading the head-piece of the 
halter, thus allowing for a large opening at 
the noose end. Carefully raising the halter so 
that his nose was well into the noose I turned 
the pole, allowing the halter to drop into 
position on his head. I then picked up the 
lead rope and proceeded with his lesson, the 
first principal of which consisted in teaching 
him that instead of being an object to fear, I 
was his friend, but at the same time his 
master, I could have taught him to lead in 
ten minutes, but I stayed with him an hour, 
petted him and talked the same language that 
I would to a little child whose confidence and 
good will I wished to gain. I said the same 
words and offered my caresses many times be- 
fore they were accepted and understood, but 
since that time he has rewarded me a hundred 
fold for the little time and patience I gave to 
him in that first lesson. That lesson was 



IO 



really the establishment of a character, which 
to-day is a model of all that is good in a horse. 
While I could describe many similar instances 
in my experience with colts at this age which 
might be interesting and instructive and tend 
to show the great value of kindness I . will 
mention but one more. 

Being laid up with a badly bruised ankle at 
a time when the weaning of the sucklings was 
necessary, I gave instructions to my men to 
separate the brood mares from their colts and 
give them their first lesson in the halter. I 
charged them under no circumstances to resort 
to severe measures without first consulting me 
and carefully explained my methods. They 
got along pretty well with all but one, and he 
was by far the best colt in the bunch, both in 
breeding and individuality. They said to me, 
"That colt is the devil— he will kick, bite 
and strike. We got the halter on but cannot 
get it off." Thereupon I sent a girl twenty 
years of age, whose love for horses is only ex- 



ceeded by her desire for their humane treat- 
ment to interview this terror. I do not 
exaggerate when I say that in twenty minutes 
from the time she entered the stable she was 
leading him in the yard with her arm about 
his neck. It was simply fear, not malice, as 
demonstrated by a woman, that prompted him 
to do wrong. Be kind, but firm, and always 
the master. 

When for the first time the colt feels the 
halter and realizes that there is a limit beyond 
which he cannot go, if he is a real good one 
he will resent it hard. Keep his head towards 
you, loosening on the lead rope only to save a 
fall or collision, and do not ask him to come 
to you until you have first been to him and 
convinced him you are his friend. Then 
teach him to lead by pulling him towards you 
one way and then the other (not in a straight 
line at first). Always when he comes, 
whether forced or otherwise, caress and re- 
ward him with a lump of sugar or salt, or a 



12 



piece of an apple you will have in your pocket. 
They are the corner stones in character build- 
ing. 

But there is a line or limit even to kindness 
beyond which you cannot go. Do not at any 
time of life allow him to become a " pet " in 
the sense that he will not respect your word, 
or command, or take liberties your judgment 
tells you are wrong. ' ' Familiarity breeds 
contempt," they say, in the human family, 
and it is no less true with horses. Punish 
him if he persists, but in a way that he will 
understand and that will frighten more than 
injure him. Continue these lessons every day 
for a week, and if your time is limited once or 
twice a week during the following winter 
months. After the first lesson you will find 
it a pleasure, as he will love the sound of your 
voice and your footsteps will be music to his 
ears. Then, if you have the fear of God, or 
the love of a little child in your heart you will 
not abuse the weanling and his future will be 
safe in your hands. 



13 



Having laid the foundation, the work should 
be discontinued and the colt turned out to 
grass the following summer. I have, how- 
ever, kept them in the stable and handled 
them successfully at this age when I had a 
special object in view, as in the case of 
" Queen Bird," 2:25 at two years. Wishing 
to establish the value of her sire as an early 
speed progenitor, I selected this filly and 
trained her for that purpose, and how I suc- 
ceeded her public exhibition quarter of a mile 
as a yearling in 33 seconds will show. 

Experience has taught me that at the ex- 
piration of the yearling's season's run to 
pasture in his two-year-old form, an age at 
which although still a colt, he is beginning to 
show some of the elements of a horse, is the 
time of all others when by nature he is more 
susceptible to influence, either for good or 
evil, than any time during his whole exist- 
ence. Therefore, I cannot put in too strong 
language the importance of continuing the 



lessons with even more thoughtful, judicious 
and patient care than when they were begun. 

The following example will serve to illus- 
trate the effects of injudicious handling at this 
age : When quite a young man, and young 
in the business, I bred and owned a little 
chunky, low- headed, Roman- nosed brown filly. 
At the time of which I write she was two 
years old and a cheaper looking colt it would 
be hard to imagine. When I looked her over 
and contemplated the prospects for the future 
of the breeding industry, with a barn full of 
her kind in a rising feed market, my aspira- 
tions took a drop that came near upsetting all 
my plans. Although not ugly or vicious, she 
was loaded to the muzzle with grit and deter- 
mination. My patience left me early in the 
game and the little judgment I started in with 
was soon scattered all over the farm, and 
finally landed horse, trainer and sleigh in a 
general mix-up in a large snowbank. Dis- 
entangling the outfit as best I could, I led my 



* 5 



pupil to the stable with the promise that I 
would, at some future time, give her the 
treatment I felt sure she needed, and that 
promise I kept, laboring all day with two as- 
sistants in a vain effort to make her draw an 
empty cart. She won at the finish, and a 
cheaper looking lot of men never left a battle 
field than followed the little brown mare to 
her stable that night. Believing her to be 
worthless I offered her as a Christmas gift to 
any one who would lead her off the farm. As I 
could find no takers she remained, and one 
year later I tried again on the principles that 
are in force at Clove rland to-day, and won. 
She proved herself not only extremely fast, 
but the greatest road mare I have ever known, 
and developed qualities which I believed must 
be perpetuated if I were to succeed in the busi- 
ness. She has produced Timepiece, 2 : 10 ^ , the 
sum of whose winnings and sale, and sale of 
others of her produce amounts to over $9,000. 
She has now on the farm two full brothers to 
Timepiece, 2:10^, for one of which I have re- 



i6 



fused $2,000. A fair Christmas present she 
was. Although I saved her from the ruin I 
so nearly wrought, the thought of it has 
never given me any pleasure, and I publish it 
with no degree of pride, but only as an exam- 
ple in the hope that it may serve as a guide to 
some man, as inexperienced as the writer was 
at that time, by which he can avoid such mis- 
takes. 

Never put a bit into a colt's mouth until 
you have first examined and prepared the 
teeth to receive it. In front of the molars 
you are sure to find little supernumerary 
growths, called wolf teeth. They are said to 
interfere with the eye by exerting an influ- 
ence on the opthalmic division of the nerve. 
Whether that is true or not I cannot say, but 
it is a dead sure thing they should come out 
and the rough edges of the outside of the up- 
per teeth (the molars) smoothed down before 
attempting the process of ' ' bitting. ' ' What- 
ever success you may have had may count for 



I? 



nothing by injudicious treatment of the colt's 
mouth at this time. 

While it was my intention in writing this 
book not to in any way connect it with the 
veterinary branch of the horse business, the 
process of preparing the colt's mouth is so 
simple, and yet so vitally important, that to 
pass it by without a word in explanation 
would not only be unfair to the student, but 
an injustice to the animals themselves. But 
before doing so I will state a circumstance di- 
rectly bearing on this branch of the colt's 
education that has firmly planted itself in my 
memory. 

A trainer of some note in the country where 
he lived was endeavoring to break a high- 
keyed, mettlesome, three-year-old filly. When 
I first saw them the colt was hitched to a cart 
with the trainer on the .seat. She had backed 
the wheels of the cart against a barn, and 
with her feet firmly planted in the ground, 



i8 



she steadfastly refused to budge. Such a 
pounding as that filly received it beats my pen 
to describe. With every vestige of reason 
gone, that man was a revelation to his audience, 
some of whom were ladies. During a lull in 
the storm, at the risk of getting into trouble 
myself, I stepped to the colt's head and said to 
the trainer, "If you will come here, I believe 
I can show you why your colt refuses to go." 
Thereupon, I opened her mouth and displayed 
two ugly wounds on either side of her cheeks, 
an inch in length, and cut almost through to 
the skin. I also showed him the wolf teeth 
with points as sharp as needles, and the rough, 
uneven edges of the molars. Is it any wonder 
she preferred the whipping ? Now, in his nor- 
mal condition, this trainer was far from being 
a brute in disposition. On the contrary, he 
was amiable and kind, and could be depended 
on always to champion and defend the cause 
of any honest man or horse in trouble. Without 
a word he unhitched the filly and led her to 
the stable, came back to the hitching floor and 



19 



sat down on a box, and for awhile rested his 
head on his hands, and I knew he realized his 
mistake and was suffering all he deserved to 
suffer. With his head still on his hands he 
made this remark : "What would you do if 
you had made such a show of yourself as I 
have to-day?" I answered : " That having 
been there, or nearly there myself, I thought 
I knew a little how he felt, that such educa- 
tion came high in loss of self-respect, but I 
believed in his case it was worth the price; 
and I will add, that he finished that colt's edu- 
cation in all the essential qualities of a race 
horse in a way that made her a model of good 
behavior. Her affection and confidence in 
him during the nervous excitement preceding 
her races was almost pathetic. 

I will say to any man who attempts the bit- 
ting or breaking of a colt to drive without first 
attending to his mouth, you are not only tak- 
ing long chances on the "physical culture" 
part of your anatomy, but also on destroying 



20 



the worth of an animal you aim to make val- 
uable for your own, or somebody else's use. 

The above is not an isolated case by any 
means, but one of many, by which to-day in- 
competent, unstudied and careless handlers 
are ruining the character and disposition of 
otherwise meritorious animals. You may not 
be in the business of breaking and handling 
colts, hence the illustration is not applicable; 
but whatever your occupation in life, if you 
have been blessed in receiving and entrusted 
with the care of one of these noblest of all an- 
imals, of any age or condition, either for profit 
or pleasure, be merciful in a measure that 
you may sometime need it meted out to you, 
and in no better way can you show the attri- 
bute of mercy, than by thoughtful, judicious 
care of the horse's mouth. 

Your outfit as an amateur veterinary dentist 
will cost you not to exceed three dollars, pos- 
sibly less, and should consist of an ordinary 



21 



pair of forceps, (such as dentists use in ex- 
tracting human teeth will do ) , and a common 
float or file, made for the purpose of correcting 
faulty growths on the teeth of horses. The 
float will cost a dollar. A pair of forceps can 
generally be procured from your dentist at 
a nominal price, which, while they may be 
a back number with him and have been dis- 
carded for more modern instruments, will an- 
swer every requirement in your case. The 
extracting of wolf teeth requires no par- 
ticular amount of skill. Only secure a 
good hold and keep it with a rigid hand, 
but with a flexible wrist to allow your 
hand to adjust itself to every movement of the 
colt's mouth. Do not hurry, but wait until 
he has become quiet, before you attempt to 
take out the tooth. While it is more skillful 
and workmanlike to extract the entire tooth, 
I have never known any harm to come from a 
broken one, the root of which was left in the 
horse's mouth. The wolf teeth having been 
attended to, run your fingers along the outer 



22 



edges of the molars. If you find them rough, 
sharp and uneven, then you certainly have 
business with the float. Stand in front of 
your subject, and with your left hand on his 
nose carefully insert the file into his mouth 
along the line of the trouble on the right side. 
Take plenty of time and do not hurt him, and 
he will soon learn that he has nothing to fear 
and will allow you even in the clumsy way of 
a beginner to finish your work without a pro- 
test. Holding your float on a line level with 
the teeth, with your right hand pass it a few 
times along the rough places. Then remove 
the instrument, examine your work, and stop 
when you find them comparatively smooth 
and free from any projections which you think 
would injure the colt's cheek in being forced 
against it by the working of the bit. To suc- 
cessfully and easily accomplish the same good 
results on the opposite or left side of the 
mouth, standing as you are supposed to be in 
front of and facing your patient, with your 
left hand on his nose, move your body to the 



23 

left side of his head, allowing your left hand 
to go under his lower jaw and around until 
you can get hold of his nose on the opposite 
side, then you will have free play for your 
right hand to work the float over the left arm 
and into the horse's mouth, while your left 
hand holds his head steady and in position. 
The matured horse very often suffers from 
sharp projecting teeth, and it is very common 
in old horses from the wearing down of the 
teeth in an uneven manner. They will be 
sharp on the inner edges of the lower jaw, and 
the outer edges of the upper jaw, which may 
be from faulty formation. In such cases the 
animal has difficult)' in eating, often grinding 
and ejecting the food. Often horses carry 
their heads to one side when driving from this 
cause. If their teeth are sharp on the inside 
they lacerate the tongue, if on the outside as 
I have already described, they lacerate the 
cheek. As the process is similar, I shall not 
give in detail the treatment of the lower 
molars, believing that when you get to them 



2 4 



your judgment will direct you how to continue 
the work. 

If you have followed the directions, you 
should now have a model pupil with which to 
continue the important work that is to follow, 
which consists in teaching him to drive. 

First hitch him with a strong halter to 
something he will not break, or pull out if he 
should try; then with the saddle part of 
your harness, with breeching attachment, rub 
him all over and under his body, occasionally 
allowing him to smell of it until he is familiar 
with and not afraid of any part of it, then 
place it in position. Do the same with head- 
stall and collar. You should do this work 
alone, unaided by any assistant, as you will 
need his undivided attention. The lines should 
not be less than thirty feet in length — a small 
rope will do. Run them through the thill 
holders in the harness to the bit, (thill holder 
girt should be buckled to hold them down 



25 

and in position). Do not at first attempt to 
raise his head above its natural position by 
checking. Now take hold of your lines, 
which you are supposed to be able to skilfully 
pay out or take in as necessity may require. 
Give him his head and allow him to go out of 
the stable or barn. If he goes out on a run, 
which he is very apt to do, give him rope, and 
as soon as you can, turn him from a straight 
line into a circle. Handle his mouth with 
care, always with a light hold of the reins, so 
that if he starts up suddenly, instead of snub- 
bing him you can allow them to slip through 
your hands so that you can rate your speed 
and the colt's, carefully restraining him. 

Perhaps I can in no better way explain or 
illustrate the value of proper handling, or the 
bad effects of improper handling of the colt, 
in these first lessons in the harness than by the 
following example: 

While driving along at a smart trot, one 
fine Spring day, late in the afternoon, through 



26 



a not over-populated section of the country, 
from the midst of a pleasant train of thoughts, 
I was startled by these words: ' ' Hello, there, 
Captain ! Look me up and tell me where I 
am." The voice seemed at first to issue from 
the bushes that lined the road, but a second 
and more careful inspection showed me not 
far away in a lot a man about thirty years of 
age, and what should have been a handsome 
chestnut filly. (The colt I learned was three 
years old.) The man was stripped to his 
pants and shirt, and hatless, stood holding a 
pair of lines in one hand and the remnant of a 
rawhide whip in the other. The lines were 
an ordinary pair, of regulation length, reach- 
ing about eight feet back of the colt and 
buckled together at the end. Stopping my 
horse and taking in the situation, I said to the 
trainer: " Would you like to send any word 
home?" He sat down on the ground and 
laughed. The drollery of the thing struck 
me and I joined in. " Yes, " he said, 
' ' tell them to send out a team of oxen and 



27 



astoneboat." With some questioning I found 
the colt had started out very well. It 
was her first lesson in the harness, but 
being quick, active and resolute, as I 
had guessed, she was away, and to the 
limit of the short lines before her trainer could 
get under headway. When he did get in mo- 
tion the colt was stepping so fast that he had 
to pull her up with a sudden jerk to stop her. 
After repeating this performance several times 
she finally refused to go without the whip, and 
when I found them she would not go with it, 
and he had given it to her without stint. 
He said to me, ' ' This mare is the worst I ever 
saw. I will have to pull off her harness and 
let her go, as she will neither lead nor drive. 
Do you know anything about handling this 
kind?" I replied that I believed I did, and 
that if he would put the halter on my horse 
that he would find in the carriage and lead 
him along, although I might fail, I told him I 
would make an effort to drive his filly home, 
which was about a mile distant in the direction 



28 



I was going. " Well, go ahead, Mister," he 
said, ' ' You are the party I was looking for. ' ' 
Thereupon I removed the lines from my har- 
ness and "connected them with those already 
on the colt, adjusted the bit, took off the crup- 
per, which from continual jerking of her head 
against the check-rein had chafed her to a 
bleeding condition. I then threw off the check, 
and spent a little time in talking to, and get- 
ting acquainted with her. Finally I asked 
her to go, at the same time I pushed her two 
or three feet to one side. This was a new 
deal and she appeared to be surprised. I re- 
peated this treatment several times. At last 
she plunged forward on a run, but I was ready 
and ran with her. Gradually allowing the 
lines to slip through my hands, at the same 
time I pulled gently on one of them. Before 
she got to the limit of my lines and speed I 
had her going in a circle, and from a run she 
slowed to a trot, and soon to a walk, and she 
went on at that gait until I said Whoa ! and 
stopped her. I then went to her head and re- 



2 9 

peated the old words of kindness, and while it 
may have been my imagination, I shall always 
think the look she gave me was one of grati- 
tude. I then drove her to the stable without 
further trouble, and after receiving a profusion 
of thanks from her owner, continued on my 
way. 

The preliminary lessons with the long lines 
offer great opportunities for the advancement 
of your pupil and of placing some of the main 
stays in his character. Be thorough and per- 
sistent, and teach him to respond readily to 
every touch of the line, at the same time be 
careful about working him too much in one 
lesson. When you want him to stop, say 
Whoa ! and stop him. Do not repeat the com- 
mand. Once is better than twice, and in re- 
peating the word a dozen times, as you will 
generally hear, it fails entirely in significance 
to the colt. Whenever he obeys the word, 
whether forced or otherwise, reward him in 
the old way with kind words. Go to him and 



3° 

adjust some part of the harness, giving the im- 
pression that you had a purpose in stopping 
him. Do not allow him to start until you tell 
him he can go. Teach him that at all times it 
is your will, not his, which must be obeyed. 

The importance of the above lesson well im- 
planted in the colt's memory will be better un- 
derstood and appreciated when I say that not 
once, but very many times, has the writer dur- 
ing his varied career with horses escaped seri- 
ous injury, and he believes that he owes his 
life to-day to the thorough instruction his 
colts have received in this branch of their edu- 
cation. The following examples, happening 
as they did in public, will no doubt be recog- 
nized in this connection, although times and 
places are not given. They will serve to show 
the inestimable value in times of peril and dan- 
ger of the firm establishment of this early and 
simple lesson on the bed-rock of the colt's 
memory. 

It happened on a half-mile track in a neigh- 
boring town at the finish of a workout mile. 



3i 

Although the mile was slow, the accident 
came at the finish, when one of the most reso- 
lute, determined and high-strung horses I have 
ever driven was at the very limit of his speed, 
which was not slower than a 2:10 gait. A 
sound like the rattling of a bolt caught my ear, 
and before I could speak I was down with a 
smashed sulky wheel, and braces. The pro- 
fessional will tell you that any accident by 
which the wheels of the sulky should come off 
or go down, would find the frame resting for 
support on the hind legs of the animal he was 
driving, the driver on the seat with his legs 
and feet elevated to an angle of 45 degrees or 
more. He will also tell you that there is not 
one horse in ten thousand, that under the 
same conditions would not either attempt to 
run away or kick himself free. The fate of a 
driver in such a " mix-up," with a horse dis- 
posed to be mean, can be better imagined than 
described. Although but one of my wheels 
was down it left me in a position even more 
precarious than that I have described. Had 



32 



he kicked I was a mark he could not miss. He 
was terribly frightened, and when I saw the 
blood gushing from a long deep wound in his 
ankle, with one of the steel braces still boring 
it, I do not hesitate to say I trembled with 
fear lest he should not heed my voice, and the 
old lessons taught him in his earlier days 
would not avail me at this critical time. But 
like the noble animal he was then and is to- 
day, he heard and obeyed, and almost sup- 
porting the sulky frame with the weight of 
the driver on his bruised and bleeding ankle, 
he came to a stop within thirty paces and 
waited until I could get off. Do not think 
that in unhitching and freeing him from the 
wreck I failed in telling him what he was, and 
I have never doubted that he understood and 
appreciated every word I said. 

Another time in a race, from the force of a 
collision and fall of the horse, I was thrown 
violently to the ground. Getting up in a some- 
what dazed condition, I found my horse stand- 



33 



ing with one of his fore feet caught in the 
wheel of a smashed sulky in front of him, the 
driver and horse to which it belonged being 
spread out on the ground, he tried, but could 
not loosen his foot, and with no hand to re- 
strain him, he was ready to plunge forward 
into the wreck ahead.. With his own sulky 
broken and gouging him, his foot in a sling, is 
it any wonder he was frightened ; but I spoke 
to him in time, in a language and tones he un- 
derstood, and that he had been taught to obey, 
and he responded, and waited with scarcely a 
struggle until I could come to his assistance. 

We will suppose your pupil to have been 
driven every day for two weeks with the lines, 
and if you have done your work well, and he 
is a fairly intelligent scholar, he should now 
be ready to take the last lesson in the course, 
which consists in teaching him to draw some 
kind of a vehicle. For a long time, during my 
early days in the business, I allowed my men 
and did myself give this lesson, by hitching 



''•»; > 



34 



directly to a cart or sleigh, but never with suc- 
cess. It is true we " broke" them, but many 
times at the expense not only of property, but 
of some of the best qualities in both horse and 
man. To obviate trouble and simplify this 
part of the work, I designed " The Dummie" 
and put it together in about 20 minutes. This 
is the most valuable accessory to a trainer's 
outfit for breaking and educating colts I have 
ever known. To manufacture this simple de- 
vice requires two twelve foot poles ( hickory is 
the best), three inches in diameter at the butt 
end, tapering to one inch at the top end. The 
poles should be stayed and braced three feet 
apart at the butt, running like a pair of ordi- 
nary shafts to within 18 inches of each other 
at the front end. The braces at the butt can 
extend over about three feet of the poles. To 
some part of the bracing, attach a strap or 
small rope with snap in the end with which to 
connect the tugs extending from the breast 
collar on the colt. Bevel the under side of the 
poles at the butt end to allow of their easier 



35 

manipulation in all the different turns it is sure 
to take. If you have been thorough in your 
instruction up to this time, your pupil should 
be well mannered and disposed to obey; not 
afraid of you, but confident and trustful, ready 
to stop and start only at your command. 
With the "Dummie," as with the harness, 
hold it up for him to look at and smell of. Drop 
it on the barn floor, not too close to him at 
first, but where he can see and hear, all the 
time coming nearer as you see he is getting 
accustomed to the sounds. His past expe- 
rience and acquaintance has been such that 
he thinks he has nothing to fear from you, no 
matter what you show, and he will very soon 
allow you to drop it very near him and make 
all the noise you wish, and will stand quietly 
while you hitch him to the "Dummie." I 
wish to emphasize in this connection the im- 
portance in hitching a colt (even after you 
have him well broken), of always having hold 
of the lines. Never allow the lines out of your 
hand or off your arm from the time you take 



36 

them down, after putting on the harness, until 
you have him unhitched and clear from what- 
ever vehicle you may have been driving to. 

A wealthy man, a breeder in a small way, 
from the northern part of the State, drove into 
my barn one day, and among other things, he 
said, "Have you a system for the breaking 
and handling of colts and horses ? If you 
have, and can show that it has any practical 
value, I will pay you well for your trouble, 
and any ideas I may get in the demonstration." 
And then for an hour he entertained and 
amused me with a graphic discription of his 
experience with different trainers, and one in 
particular, whose work he described, I will 
give here as nearly as I can, in the words in 
which it was related. As it represents the 
other side of the picture or theory of handling 
horses, I will leave it to the reader to deter- 
mine their comparative value : 

1 ' He was a typical cowboy in appearance, 
but as he came well recommended from his for- 



37 



iner employer, I felt sure that I had the real 
article. I endeavored to draw him out several 
times in explanation of his methods, etc. , of 
breaking colts and handling them for speed, 
but as he did not appear disposed to talk on 
the subject, I placed him as one who could put 
his ideas into practice better than words. My 
confidence was such that it was six months 
from the time he began work before I had an 
opportunity of witnessing his unexplainable 
methods of colt breaking. With the help of 
two assistants, he was hitching to a cart a 
large, powerful and high bred three year old 
filly, one that, he told me, had bothered some 
at first, but was improving very fast, and 
would soon do to take into town for the own- 
er's pleasure driving, and he also stated that 
he believed her to be a race horse. They 
hitched her, facing the doors opening to a 
sharp descent, over a bridge, through a drive- 
way, thence with a sharp turn to a gate into 
the highway. When all was ready, the order 
was given and the mare released. At first I 



38 



thought she would not go at all ; she reared 
and swerved first to one side of the barn and 
then the other. Believing that ' self-preserva- 
tion is the first law of nature,' I ' ducked' for 
the yard, not any too soon, and I then beheld 
such an exhibition of wild driving as would 
put to shame the most daring performer 
in Buffalo Bill's aggregation. Going out 
of the barn on a run, with a succession of 
jumps, plunges and dives, he cleared all the 
openings, and on one wheel of the cart made 
the turn for the highway and disappeared 
from sight on a run, exhibiting all the race 
horse qualities he had claimed. As the smoke 
and dust cleared away, I said to the assistant, 
' That mare isn't what you would call a real 
good behaved one, is she ?' He replied, ' She 
is acting good, now ; you should have seen her 
the first time she was hitched.' I said to him, 
' William, this farm covers a territory of about 
three hundred acres of ground ; it has been in 
my family for more than a hundred years ; it 
is apart of me, and having traveled every foot 



39 



of it by daylight, by moonlight, and by no 
light at all, I know it as I know myself. Let 
me say to you, my boy, if that first lesson 
beats the one now in the works, I am not sorry 
that I did not see it. I feel that I have had a 
narrow escape, and knowing the place as I do, 
I cannot think of a tree within its boundaries 
in which I would feel safe from the Professor 
and his pupils.' I grow chilly when I think 
of meeting him on my return, although I 
think he will not be back to-night ; but in this 
I was mistaken, as I met my trainer, or a man 
I took to be him, with a mask of dust and 
blood on his face, leading a lame horse, and 
further along I found the cart a total wreck, 
by the side of the road, near to where he had 
collided with a loaded team. Thankful it was 
no worse, I went to my home that night firmly 
resolved to either abandon the business of 
breeding entirely, or give it some personal at- 
tention." 

The above is possibly an extreme case, but 
it was interesting in the narrative, as it para- 



4 o 



lelled scenes that the writer has many times 
witnessed during his experience in the busi- 
ness. 

An object appearing suddenly to a colt is 
generally what frightens him the most. Be 
careful about using the whip at such times, it 
will only add to the trouble. Whenever he 
sees anything of which he is afraid, drive him 
slowly and carefully, but firmly toward the 
object and show him he has nothing to fear. 

If you aim to raise a trotter and race horse, 
breed the best mare you own or can afford to 
buy, a mare great as an individual and by in- 
heritance, to some stallion that is a race horse 
himself, and has demonstrated his value as a 
sire of race horses. Break the offspring ac- 
cording to the foregoing rules. When you 
have him well broken, put on him a pair of 
quarter boots and scalpers ; the latter by all 
means. They are more essential in gaiting a 
colt than any horse boot known to the busi- 
ness. Thousands of " hitchers" have been 



4i 



started by incompetent handlers, too lazy or 
ignorant to suitably protect the colt at the very 
spot where the gaiting process should begin. 
Adjust the harness as you do your clothes, so 
that it will fit and be comfortable. It is im- 
portant to see that it does not chafe or irritate 
him. This quality to feel for your pupil is not 
made, but born in a horseman. Adjust the bit 
in the same way. Never use any devise what- 
ever that is calculated to punish the colt 
through his mouth without you are looking 
for and inviting trouble. In developing and 
educating for speed, ask the colt to go just 
as fast as he can a few times for short dis- 
tances every time you hitch him and can find 
a smooth place. Do not confine this work to 
the track or to a perfectly level spot. Avoid 
everything that may become monotonous or 
tiresome to your pupil. Study him and his 
characteristics, he may need a little more or a 
little less work than you are giving. Be his 
true and loyal friend, and always the teacher 
whose will is law. If you find the colt in a 



42 



dull or sour condition, give him his regular 
work without any attempt at speed. Encour- 
age him always to a better effort. If he tries 
and fails, or makes a mistake, talk to him 
about it in a calm and confident tone, and 
don't get it into your head that he cannot un- 
derstand you. This is one of the greatest er- 
rors young men make in not treating their pu- 
pils as being able to understand the English 
language. If he tries and succeeds, the colt 
knows it himself and does not need your coun- 
sel. If he is the kind that wont try, then 
make him. Do not lose your patience and 
twitch and yank him, no matter what the 
provocation, and be careful of the whip ; it is 
a dangerous implement in the hands of a quick 
tempered man. The writer makes no claim 
to angelic qualities or disposition. He recalls 
a time when he drove a four year old filly 
straight to the barn, and without unhitching 
threw down the lines, went away and stayed 
until he felt he could control himself, then 
went back, sat down and studied for half an 



43 



hour, found the trouble and successfully con- 
tinued her training. Remember, that the race 
horse does not live of any age that is every day 
alike, so rate your treatment of the colt ac- 
cordingly. When your pupil begins to show 
that he understands what you want of him, 
and has the ability to comply, carefully 
watch him, for as he increases his speed he 
may strike himself in some spot which must 
be cared for at once. From this stage the im- 
provement should be rapid, and just how 
much speed and race horse qualities the colt 
will develop depends not wholly, but very 
much on the patience, perseverance and judg- 
ment of his trainer. In all cases time will be 
saved and ultimate success more assured, by 
removing the shoes from the two or three year 
old and allowing him a run to grass in a pad- 
dock during the month of June, where the soil 
is of a soft, loamy nature. In continuance of 
the training from this. stage, supposing your 
pupil to have the required amount of speed, 
if he wins any money it will be necessary for 



44 

him to carry that "speed "a mile. With this in 
view, I have trained my colts to go away, or 
score just as fast as they are capable for the 
first sixteenth, then slowing them to an easy 
jog, and finishing the last sixteenth to the 
very limit of their speed ; gradually and syste- 
matically increasing the distance of speed at 
both ends, thus lessening the intervening 
space according to the colt's condition as he 
may attain strength to perform. This is a del- 
icate task for even the most experienced men 
in the business, and calls for all the qualities 
you possess. 

Rkmkmber, the colt's mouth, as a rule, is 
what you make it. Teach him to drive with 
a light hand. No puller, in this age of ex- 
treme speed, will do. 

I will give in this connection one more ex- 
ample, or illustration, which may serve to 
illumine the lettering on the guide-board I 
would erect, pointing out the road to success, 
through a closer bond of sympathy and under- 



45 



standing between horse and man. Without 
fear of contradiction, where the horse is 
known, I will say that no greater, better be- 
haved, gamer, or more consistent race horse 
ever lived than Timepiece, 2\io%. Beginning 
his racing career as a two year old, he was out 
for the money each following year for seven 
continuous years, winning the most, and fight- 
ing all his races from early Spring to the last 
days of October. 

The writer makes no claims to any credit 
for what honors Timepiece may have achieved 
as a race horse. At the time of which I write 
I had in my employ a young man who, had he 
seen fit to continue in the business, and give it 
his thoughtful care and attention, had quali- 
ties which would have placed him in the very 
front rank of his profession. Timepiece owes 
it to this young man's patience, perseverence 
and good judgment, that he was not discarded 
as worthless for any purpose whatever. Over- 
flowing with grit, determination and speed, at 



46 



the age of three years this colt passed through 
a stage in his career which was critical in the 
extreme ; although it was only of a few days 
duration, it marked the junction of the roads 
that lead to failure or success, and proved an 
epoch in the career of both horse and the cool- 
headed boy who, with unerring hand guided 
him straight, and brought out the very best 
qualities in his nature. For some unaccount- 
able reason this colt one day deliberately re- 
fused to score, or speed towards the starting 
point, where his miles should begin. He 
would shake his head, swerve first to one side of 
the track and then the other, finally going for- 
ward at a gait that would puzzle a man more 
capable than the author of this book to de- 
scribe. Perhaps the nearest to a description 
of this newly acquired gait would be to repeat 
what the man said to a local judge, before 
whom he had been arraigned in court on a 
charge of intoxication and unlawfully running 
his horse through the streets. When asked 
what he had to say in his defense, he replied, 



47 



" Judge, did } t ou think that horse of mine was 
running, if so you are mistaken ; I live near 
to Clove rland Stock Farm, and can tell you 
that is a new gait we are teaching our colts, 
and we call it ' Hoppy-to-pace.' ' In telling 
me the story, the judge said he never knew 
how he preserved the dignity of his office. 
Well, " Hoppy-to-pace" it was for Timepiece 
until I turned away in disgust, after a two 
weeks' trial of patience, which I believed should 
be the limit, and so expressed myself at the 
time, recommending severe measures'. I was 
met with the plea to allow the work to continue, 
with the responsibility for good or evil to rest 
with the trainer ; and how he succeeded, 
Timepiece's record of good behavior during 
his seven years of racing will show. 

I would say in conclusion, that animals, like 
men, differ very much in disposition as well as 
in intelligence, and in their early education 
and discipline, as with human beings, that 
system should prevail by which you can in 



4 8 



the simplest manner reach the understanding, 
not of one, but any of the various tempera- 
ments of the breed. While there may be oth- 
er methods equally as good for the handling 
and training of colts, there are none more sim- 
ple and sure of success for the amateur than 
those outlined between the covers of this little 
book. In such a degree as colts are unlike in 
disposition and intelligence, so will they differ 
in their manner of receiving their instructions, 
and no rule but that of common sense can be 
laid down for the man who attempts their edu- 
cation. 



3V77-6* 
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UUN 9 1905 










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